Grandma's Got Stoke!
by WhazzupPeeps
Summary: Fin's grandmother travels to Surfer's Paradise to visit her granddaughter in time for the Tandem Surfing Competition, and the gang discovers that Fin and her grandmother have a lot in common. An alternate take on the episode "Boards of Glory".
1. Surfing Generations

**CHAPTER 1 - SURFING GENERATIONS  
**

**How many of you who've seen the _Stoked_ episode "Fast Times When the Rip Tide's High" remember the scene where Fin tells Reef that her grandmother gets more air than him? Well, here's the opportunity to find out as I introduce Fin's grandmother in this story, where she comes to Surfer's Paradise to see her granddaughter and see what goes on with her on the job and off. This story is also an alternate take on the episode "Boards of Glory", showing what would happen if Fin had not been injured when Reef attempted a Level 10 move with her while practicing for the Tandem Surfing Competition, and if Broseph had never taken her place.**

**This story's going to be ReeFin-centric, so fasten your seat belts...  
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A couple of hours after returning from Sunset Beach to Surfer's Paradise with the rest of her friends on a Sunday afternoon, Fin was getting back from doing her laundry at the staff laundry hut and was now back in her, Lo and Emma's shared room at the staff house, sorting through her newly-cleaned clothing items on her bed. Feeling in the need to snack on something, she pulled her suitcase out from underneath her bed and took out a half-eaten chocolate bar, then unwrapped the bar and took a nibble from it while continuing to separate her tops, pants, socks, underwear and a couple of bikinis.

While taking another bite of her chocolate bar and preparing to rewrap it to put away, Fin took notice of a photo she had stashed away in a section of her suitcase and took it out to look at it when Lo came into the room. "I thought I could smell chocolate from out in the hallway," Lo commented as her acute sense of smell caught a whiff of the candy Fin had been sampling.

"You guessed right," Fin quipped good-naturedly, picking the chocolate bar back up and snapping off a small square of it to offer to Lo. "Want a bite?"

"Sure, thanks," Lo said, taking the piece of chocolate and popping it in her mouth. Noticing the photo Fin had with her, Lo then asked, "What're you looking at there?"

"What, this?" Fin said, showing Lo the photo. "It's just an old photo I've been keeping in my suitcase."

"Wow, it looks nice," Lo remarked as she sat down on the bed beside Fin, then studied the photo further. "Hey, I never knew you wore that kind of bikini, and how come the photo's in black-and-white?" she asked, perceiving what appeared to be Fin in a conservative-looking light two-piece suit while she stood holding a surfboard, a different kind from what she currently had with her at the hotel, in the black-and-white photo.

"Thanks," Fin said with a slight giggle, "but that's actually not me in the photo."

"It isn't?" Lo wondered. "It sure looks like you."

"I know," Fin said, "but it's actually my grandmother in this photo. It was taken of her back in 1963, when she was just 18. She gave this to me just before I left Halifax to come here."

"I can see where the family resemblance comes from," an impressed Lo said, looking at Fin briefly before turning back to the photo. "She looks like a dead-ringer for you in this picture, right down to the hairstyle. Was she as good a surfer as you are?"

"I'd be happy if I could be half the surfer Grandma was back in her day," Fin said. "She started surfing in 1959 and she was a real trailblazer for female surfers in Canada back then. At 17, she was the youngest surfer to win the Battle of the Betties and she used that as a springboard to enter more competitions after high school."

"That sounds so cool," Lo said. "How did she do back then?"

"She won every surfing competition she entered, local, regional and national," Fin explained. "She even captured back-to-back World Women's titles in 1966 and 1967, the same year she took a few years off from competitive surfing when she got married and became pregnant with my mom."

"Two World Women's titles? Awesome!" Lo said. "I'd sure love to meet her if I could so I could hear the surfing stories she'd have to tell."

"Oh, you're going to," Fin told Lo. "Grandma called me last Thursday and she said she's coming here tonight to stay at the hotel for a couple of weeks."

"For real?" Lo asked.

"For real," Fin confirmed, nodding her head. "I'll take you to meet her when Kahuna brings her here on the Whalebus." As she reached back behind Lo to grab another top off her bed to fold up, Fin noticed something new on the bed she had not seen before then. "Hey, hold on a minute," she said. "I don't remember seeing this here."

"Looks like a bouquet of flowers," Lo said. "Whoever put it there must've left it while we were talking."

Just then, Emma walked into the room and saw Fin and Lo talking about the bouquet. "I just saw Reef pass by me coming down the stairs when I was on my way up," the redhaired girl said.

"Ah, so _that's_ who left the flowers. They must be for me then," Fin said as she then moved to pick the bouquet up.

As Fin was about to take the flowers though, Emma noticed something sticking from the paper wrapped around the bouquet that set off alarm bells in her head. "Wait, stop!" she said abruptly as she rushed to keep Fin from touching the bouquet. "Don't touch the flowers!"

"Why, what's wrong with 'em, Alberta?" Fin asked, using her nickname for Emma.

"I saw some leaves sticking out from the paper wrapping of the bouquet," Emma explained. "They look like poison ivy."

"What?" Fin said, taking a closer look at the leaves in question. "Oh crap, that _is_ poison ivy!" she added with a combination of shock and disgust. "That's just great! Emma, get me a couple of plastic shopping bags, a big garbage bag and some tongs. I gotta bag and trash the flowers, then I have to rewash both my clothes _and_ my bedsheets. After that," she finished with an angry look, "I'm gonna kick Reef's butt for giving me that poison ivy bouquet."

* * *

After redoing her laundry and then grabbing dinner in the staff house (consisting of the same unappetizing slop that the staff staying there had been eating the past few days), Fin then took Lo with her to get some ice cream bars and two bottles of pop at the Snack Shack kiosk by the hotel pool (mainly to get the taste of the dinner out of their mouths, as Fin explained to Lo), then they went through the hotel lobby and out to wait by the main entrance for the Whalebus to arrive.

"So other than being a champion surfer when she was younger," Lo asked Fin, "what's your grandma like? I guess she must be nice, right?"

"You'll see soon enough," Fin said before pausing to take a sip from the bottle of lime pop she had. "She called when she arrived at the seaplane terminal and she'll be on her way soon." A moment later, Fin caught sight of the Whalebus coming close to the hotel on the road from Sunset Beach. "That's got to be her coming now," she said as the bus pulled onto the hotel grounds, then up to the main entrance.

The Whalebus opened its door and, after the first few passengers filed out, an older woman stepped off the bus with her suitcases. Fin recognized her immediately - as Lo had noticed earlier while looking at the old black-and-white photo Fin had, the older woman looked like a nearly 50-year-older version of Fin, including her hairstyle (which was white with some gray instead of blonde) and the same fit physique Fin had. Facially, the older woman even looked almost exactly like Fin, except for a few wrinkles.

"Grandma!" a happy Fin exclaimed as she ran up to her grandmother and greeted her with a hug. "Oh, it's good to see you come here to visit," she added.

"I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world, dear," Fin's grandmother replied as she hugged her granddaughter back. "How're you enjoying working at the hotel so far?"

"It's kind of a long story, but I'll tell you about it later," Fin said. "This is Lo Ridgemount, one of my best friends and the hotel owner's daughter," she added, introducing Lo. "Lo, meet my grandma, Amanda McCloud."

"Hi, Mrs. McCloud," Lo said in greeting as she shook hands. "Pleasure to meet you. Is it okay if I call you Mrs. McCloud?"

"Either that or Amanda's all right," Mrs. McCloud said. "Fin's told me a lot about you in her e-mails to me since she came here. I can see why she considers you a friend."

"Oh, thank you," a flattered Lo said. Thinking about something Fin told her earlier, Lo then asked her friend, "Wait a sec Fin, if Mrs. McCloud's your grandma on your mom's side, why do you and she have the same last name?"

"Grandma kept her maiden name when she got married, and so did my mom after her," Fin explained. "Partly to do with women's lib, partly to do with pride in the McCloud name." At that point, Fin heard some chatter behind her coming closer and saw Reef and Broseph passing by on their way into the hotel lobby. "Lo, Grandma, 'scuse me a minute while I take care of a little business." Fin then crumpled up the wrapper from her ice cream bar and threw it at the back of Reef's head.

"Hey!" Reef said as he felt the crumpled-up wrapper hit him, then turned and saw Fin marching toward him. "What gives?"

"Hey chowderhead, thanks for the poison ivy bouquet you left me on my bed!" Fin quipped sarcastically at Reef.

"What? Poison ivy?" an incredulous Reef said. "What's up with that?"

"That bouquet of wildflowers you picked and left for me in my bedroom while I was talking with Lo had poison ivy in it," Fin told Reef. "I was lucky Emma saw the flowers and warned me before I touched them, or else I'd have a rash right now. And thanks to your bouquet, I had to wash my bedsheets _and_ run my laundry through a second wash in case the flowers touched any of my clothes!"

"Didn't see the poison ivy when I picked those flowers," Reef said in his defence, "so technically, not my fault."

"Whatever," Fin said with an exasperated sigh before walking away. "Thanks for nothing, kook!" As Fin walked back toward Lo and Mrs. McCloud, Reef simply shrugged his shoulders before he and Broseph turned and walked through the main entrance doors into the hotel.

"Who was that boy you were arguing with a second ago, Fin?" Mrs. McCloud asked as her granddaughter returned.

"No one special," Fin answered. "His name's Reef, one of the staff at the hotel. He's the surfing instructor here and he's a complete self-absorbed pretty-boy doofus."

"Hmm, seems to me from the way you two carried on, I thought you'd both be dating," Mrs. McCloud observed.

"Funny, that's what the rest of our friends think too," Lo joined in. "Fin denies it all the time, but she's _totally_ got a crush on Reef."

_Oh no, not this again,_ Fin thought to herself regarding the rumors about her and Reef as she shot a glare at Lo. "Lo, for the hundredth time, I _don't_ have a crush on Reef! I can't even _stand_ him!" she said to Lo. "Grandma, if you knew what Reef was like, you wouldn't think I felt that way about him either, because I don't," she added, addressing Mrs. McCloud.

"I know, honey," Mrs. McCloud said. "I know all about his type. I knew my share of Reefs back in my time and I even dated a couple of them before I married your grandpa. Still, he may be a self-absorbed pretty boy like you said, but it doesn't necessarily mean he wouldn't make good boyfriend material for you. It's all a matter of knowing how to handle him."

Fin sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Telling you about Reef's going to be a long story," she said to her grandmother, "but let's get you checked in first."

"Don't worry dear, I have the time," Mrs. McCloud said as she, Fin and Lo went inside to head to the front desk. "How about you and Lo come up to my room after I check in and we'll talk more about Reef? I'll order room service for the three of us if you haven't eaten dinner yet."

"Room service?" Fin said, turned on to the idea of having a more appetizing meal after what she and the rest of the staff barely touched earlier. "I'm in. I could go for a bite."

"Me too," Lo agreed, also wanting to enjoy something edible, as Mrs. McCloud and the two girls arrived at the front desk.

* * *

Later that night at the staff house after the staff had gone to sleep, Lo got out of her bed in the girls' room and snuck downstairs to the fridge in the common living room in hopes of getting a midnight snack to nibble on. She opened the fridge door and rummaged around inside, but there was little, if anything, inside that was worth eating to her. She then took a look at the pot filled with the dinner leftovers from earlier, an item looking like a cross between gruel and some kind of chowder, which Bummer had been supplying to the staff for their meals over the last few days.

"_Eww,_ nast!" Lo whispered to herself after getting a whiff of the pseudo-edible slop in the pot before she put the pot lid back on. _I still don't get why Bummer's been giving us crappy staff food when the hotel's been raking in a fortune,_ she then thought before making a realization a moment later. _Hold on, I've still got some money left over from when I bought the new TV and satellite dish for the staff house last week. Hmm,_ she pondered for a moment while looking at the leftovers in the fridge, just before she got a gleam in her eye. _Maybe I could put that money to good use..._

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**Next chapter, Fin and Reef hear about the Tandem Surfing Competition and enter for the honor of Surfer's Paradise, and Lo becomes the staff house's "secret angel".**

**_Stoked_ (c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon. I don't own the show or any of the characters.**

**Reviews and comments are welcome**.


	2. Tuna Throws Down

**CHAPTER 2 - TUNA THROWS DOWN  
**

**Okay, here's Chapter Two. This is where I start incorporating some elements of "Boards of Glory" into this story, but with a few changes and additions in dialogue (and who says them) and what happens near chapter's end, and a character substitution here and there**.

* * *

The following morning before Fin was to go on housekeeping duty with head housekeeper Rosie, she and her grandmother were talking and enjoying breakfast at a table at the Pirate Ship restaurant. Mrs. McCloud was having apple cinnamon granola, half a grapefruit, toast with peanut butter and jam and orange juice, while Fin had whole wheat pancakes topped with strawberries and orange juice. Fin noticed Lo's family, minus Lo, over at a nearby booth having their breakfast, where Mr. Ridgemount was reading his morning paper while George, Lo's bratty 10-year-old brother, was sitting with a blank expression as he listened to music on his headphones.

As they continued eating, Fin and Mrs. McCloud could hear someone yelling from outside the restaurant in the hotel lobby. Fin recognized that voice as Bummer, who was yelling "This is a copy of my job description! Do you see supervising a staff full of babies who can't think for themselves anywhere here? DO YOU?" at someone. After hearing an indistinct response, Fin then heard Bummer yell "That's a strike for both of you, and what kind of a sorry display is that?" at whoever he was addressing, making Fin shake her head as she smirked.

"Whoever that was getting yelled at outside, I sure pity them," Fin commented after swallowing a bite of her pancakes.

"So who was that doing the yelling?" Mrs. McCloud asked before taking a bite of toast.

"I recognized him as soon as I heard his voice," Fin said as she pointed out Bummer, who was walking by the Pirate Ship's main entrance, to her grandmother. "That's Andrew Baumer, the hotel's day manager. He's our direct supervisor and the go-between between the staff and Lo's dad. We call him 'Bummer' behind his back because the guy's an extreme wet blanket who cares more about his job and brown-nosing Mr. Ridgemount and the hotel guests than he does about the employees."

"Seems to me that your manager doesn't sound like a very nice guy," Mrs. McCloud said.

"Total slavedriver," Fin agreed. "Funny thing about what he did a moment ago, that was actually one of Bummer's better moments with the staff." A moment later, the McClouds overheard a commotion coming from the kitchen and they looked in the direction of the swinging doors.

"Thees ees nonsense! Equal blueberries? GET OUT OF MY KEETCHEN!" a French-accented voice yelled from the kitchen, followed by Emma running through the doors to get away as she was hit in the back of her head by what appeared to be a muffin thrown at her.

"Yikes, poor Emma," Fin said after watching her friend escape from the kitchen. "In a way, I'm glad I don't work here in the restaurant. Tips here are pretty good depending from one customer to another, but being a waitress here can be a hassle sometimes."

"Do you enjoy working at housekeeping here, Fin?" Mrs. McCloud said. "I can only imagine it doesn't sound very appealing."

"That's only the half of it, Grandma," Fin responded as she noticed Lo walking into the restaurant to join her family for breakfast. "Being a maid for slovenly hotel guests who don't even leave tips sucks. I'd rather be the hotel surfing instructor like I applied for and wanted to be, but even waitressing here sure beats having to clean toilets."

"It's true housekeeping isn't such a great job, but at least it pays the bills," Mrs. McCloud said. "Besides, wouldn't you rather live in a neat and clean place than in a pigsty?"

"Yeah, good point," Fin said with another smirk. The McClouds were then caught by surprise when they heard Mr. Ridgemount bellow "KELLY! I need to talk to you NOW!", which also startled Lo as she hid behind Emma while Fin and Mrs. McCloud watched the scene.

"I think she's hiding under a counter in the supply closet," Emma said, directing the hotel owner to where she figured the Pirate Ship manager would be, then watched with Lo as Mr. Ridgemount walked toward the doors to the kitchen in search of Kelly.

With a giggle, Lo came from behind Emma and grabbed a blueberry muffin from the basket her friend was carrying. "Nice one," she said to Emma before arriving at the Ridgemounts' booth and asking her mother "What's harshing on Daddy's mellow today?"

Turning back to her grandmother, Fin said with a laugh, "Man, I'm sure glad I'm not Kelly right now."

"I believe it," Mrs. McCloud said. "This Kelly works here too, doesn't she?"

"She's the manager and head waitress here," Fin explained, "and I'm also giving her private surfing lessons in exchange for getting free dinners here. Kelly's got a bit of an edge when you first meet her, but she's really a pretty nice girl once you get to know her." Fin knew this as a result of her recent dealings with Kelly, who had started out with a nasty attitude when she first met her at the time Kelly led the hazing initiation of the groms shortly after their arrival at Surfer's Paradise, but who then began to mellow out once she met a guest named David (whom Fin met three days ago at the staff house) when she served him at the Pirate Ship on a Friday over a week earlier, then began dating him that same night.

"Sounds all right," Mrs. McCloud said. "I'd love to meet your other friends here when they're not on duty."

"Sure," Fin said, receptive to the idea. "I'm sure they'd love to meet you too. They're surfers as well, so I think they'd like to hear your stories about your time as a champion surfer."

"I may do more than that, dear," Mrs. McCloud said with a wink. "I think I'll show them what this senior surfer can do." Fin believed her grandmother's words, for the 65-year-old Mrs. McCloud still kept in very good shape, at the level of women roughly half her age, through recreational surfing (which Fin joined her in back home in Nova Scotia), swimming and other exercising.

Fin and Mrs. McCloud's attention was then caught by more conversation from the Ridgemount booth close by. "Every year for the last eight years, we've been number one on that list," Lo said to her mother, referring to Surfer's Paradise's position in a list of the top ten resort hotels in Canada.

"It's too bad there isn't a way to stick it to Captain Ron," Mrs. Ridgemount said to her daughter in response.

An idea then occurred to Lo. "I might have a way," she said. "The Staff Tandem Surfing Contest is usually right after the top ten, isn't it?"

"Oh, don't remind him of that, honey," Mrs. Ridgemount told Lo, thinking about Mr. Ridgemount's reaction to Surfer's Paradise recently falling to #2 in the top ten after the hotel lost a regatta race to a rival hotel, the one owned by Captain Ron.

Fin continued to listen from the McClouds' table as she then heard Lo say "Don't worry, Mom! We're going to win it this year and I'm gonna make sure of it." Checking out the blueberry muffin she took from Emma's basket earlier, Lo then commented, "_Eww!_ This has, like, no blueberries!"

* * *

Later on outside the staff house, Lo was paying for a delivery of dinner from a local deli in Sunset Beach from the delivery driver, then she brought the two paper bags containing the dinner inside and to the fridge in the living room. Since she knew that the rest of the staff was already on duty at their jobs and Bummer had already made a "fresh" delivery of the slop he passed off as "dinner" to the staff earlier, she had no problem bringing the deli dinner order in without anyone knowing.

Opening the fridge door, Lo then removed the pot inside with a handwritten sign from Bummer taped to it marked "STAFF DINNER", which she knew contained the thin, barely-edible concoction inside, and placed it on the floor. She then grabbed the paper bags and took out their contents, a container with slices of roast beef, another one with mashed potatoes, and two mid-sized platters containing pre-cut broccoli and carrot sticks, with two smaller containers, one with gravy for the potatoes and another with low-fat ranch dip for the vegetables, and placed them all in the fridge. After that, she then grabbed the pot with the slop inside off the floor and hauled it upstairs to the staff bathroom, with the intent of flushing its contents down the toilet.

_This stuff Bummer's been bringing us is barely fit for pigs, and it's sure not something fit to be fed to kids in orphanages, so I don't know why he thinks it's fit to feed to us,_ Lo thought to herself as she took the pot into the bathroom and dumped the slop inside into a toilet in one of the toilet stalls. _Sure hope this garbage doesn't plug up the toilet when I flush it down,_ she continued as she did just that. By her good luck, the toilet did not clog as Lo flushed it. _Ha, good riddance to toxic waste,_ she then thought with a grin before taking the empty pot back downstairs and, to avoid raising suspicion, placing it back in the fridge below the deli dinner. _Alright, my work here for now is done,_ Lo thought with a giggle as she then left the staff house to head to the hotel. _Sure hope everyone enjoys the dinner I picked up. Now I've got a little something extra to take care of..._

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Over at a guest room at the hotel, Emma, who was on break from the Pirate Ship, was keeping Fin company while she cleaned the room. Emma and Fin, who was also taking a rest from maid duty, were out on the balcony where Fin was helping herself to a few pillow chocolates from a bowl of the candies, each of which were intended for guest beds after the beds were made. "Mmm, these are so good. Can you get addicted to pillow chocolates?" Fin asked rhetorically after enjoying another one of the candies.

"How many guys would do something like that on their day off?" Emma asked as she watched Ty Ridgemount, Lo's older brother, polish a surfboard for a young girl down on the hotel beach. "He's not even being paid."

"Okay," Fin, who knew about Emma's unrequited crush on Ty, responded as she popped another chocolate into her mouth. "But you're a total catch too."

"_Aww,_ thanks," Emma said, flattered by her friend's vote of confidence. "So what about you and Reef?"

"Ugh, don't ask," a repulsed Fin said. "Dude gives me a rash. Speaking of which," she added, "thanks for saving me from that poison ivy bouquet he left me on my bed yesterday. Redoing my laundry after that little mishap sucks, but at least I'm not itching like crazy or sporting a rash that glows like a neon sign."

"My pleasure," Emma said with a giggle. "By the way, how's your grandma enjoying her stay at the hotel? I know she liked breakfast over at the DR earlier, so she left me a pretty good tip."

"She's enjoying it so far," Fin said. "She's already met Lo and Johnny and she also asked about Reef after she saw me and him argue about the flowers last night. After check-in, she ordered room service with me and Lo and we engaged in a lot of girl talk and watched a pay-per-view movie on the TV in her room. It was a lot of fun. I'm planning to go surfing with Grandma on the beach later on when we get the chance."

"That's so cool," Emma remarked. "Sounds like you've got the same kind of relationship with your grandma that I have with my grandparents back in Calgary."

A second later, Fin's cell phone rang and she saw it was a text from Lo. "Lo needs me to sneak down to the beach," she said upon reading the message. "You gonna stay here?" she asked Emma.

"Yeah," Emma replied as Fin then went back into the room. Taking a chocolate from the bowl, she said "These are kind of addictive."

* * *

"What's _he_ doing here?" an unimpressed Fin asked Lo as she met her in the hotel lobby and saw Reef beside her.

"You're extra-snappish today," Lo said, catching Fin's vibe.

"Sorry, but you were there, so you know," Fin said. "What's up?"

"I need you guys to do one little thing for me," Lo requested.

"Name it, sister!" Reef said.

"Win the annual Staff Tandem Surfing Contest this Saturday," Lo said.

"Done!" Reef responded.

"You'll have to skip work without getting fired," Lo added, "and practice every spare second you have."

"Hey, wait," Fin said, realizing what Lo was suggesting. "You mean 'tandem' as in together?"

"_Whoaaa,_ wait, wait, wait, wait," Reef joined in as it also dawned on him. "Here's the thing - I'm a lone wolf, which means I work alone, like a wolf! I'll do it, but only if it's my way or the highway!"

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks!" Fin said as she began to walk away. _Letting a kook like you take the lead, whether in dancing or tandem surfing? Ha! That'll be the day,_ she thought to herself of Reef.

Seeing that her chance to help her father's hotel regain number-one status was slipping through her fingers, Lo needed to stop Fin and Reef from bailing on her. "Guys, _pleeease?_" Lo pleaded with Reef and Fin as she grabbed them by their arms to keep them around. "My entire future summer is riding on this."

"What's in it for me?" Fin asked. _Besides letting Wilbur Kookmeyer there take all the glory for himself like he usually does,_ she thought while glaring at Reef.

"Captain Ron's my dad's sworn enemy," Lo explained. "That's why Bummer's being such a dictator! My dad's giving him the grind because he let us slip to number two."

"So if we win, Bummer'll get off our cases?" Reef asked.

"You'll be local legends," Lo said, "_aaand_...Daddy will let me back in the penthouse! _Sooo_...are you in?"

"Definitely!" Fin said, agreeing to join the competition.

"You know it!" Reef agreed. "Check it out, the Cradle!" he added as he spread his arms out, signalling Fin to jump up and into his arms in a practice move. When Fin jumped, however, Reef had his eyes closed and did not notice Fin coming down as she landed on the floor on her butt.

"OWW!" Fin yelped as she hit the floor, also hitting Reef's right foot as she landed.

"Ouch!" Reef said as he grabbed his right foot and hopped around on his left. "A little warning next time?"

"_You're_ the one that dropped me!" Fin said tersely as she then shoved Reef to the floor.

"Okay," Lo said, attempting to defuse things before they got out of hand. "I'll cover for Fin so you can start training now."

"Wait, you're gonna fill in and clean rooms for me?" Fin said. "This is getting better and better!"

"Then who's looking after the rugrats?" Reef asked, knowing that Lo also pulled double-duty on certain days as the hotel babysitter.

"Oh, I've got it covered," Lo said with a look of confidence.

* * *

Later on at the hotel beach, Mrs. McCloud was busy watching Fin and Reef practicing for the Tandem Surfing Contest when Lo came by to check up on them and their progress. "Hi, Mrs. McCloud," Lo said. "How're Reef and Fin doing over there?"

"Well, some of their routines are going better than others," Mrs. McCloud explained as she directed Lo's attention to Fin and Reef, who were practicing some of their moves on the sand. Wondering what Lo was doing at the beach, Mrs. McCloud then asked, "Lo, don't you usually work at the restaurant at this time?"

"I do," Lo said, "but Bummer stuck me with babysitting duty today."

"Okay," Mrs. McCloud said. "So where are the kids you're looking after?"

"That's the thing," Lo said. "To help Fin get practice time in for the contest, I also promised her that I'd take over for her with housekeeping while she was here."

"And how does babysitting and housekeeping tie together for you," Mrs. McCloud wondered, "or should I even ask?"

"That's the beauty of it," Lo said. "I got the kids I'm watching to do the maid work that I was supposed to do while I supervise them." When Mrs. McCloud raised an eyebrow at her, Lo continued, "I had to make them work by threatening to tell their parents that they were the ones who set the girls' mother's purse dog out to sea on a surfboard while sharks circled the board. The girls I'm watching are difficult and demanding while the boys are obnoxious, destructive brats whose parents don't discipline them," she went on, describing the two girls, Erica and Brianna, as well as the Marvin boys, Todd and Mark. "If you saw those kids and the way they behave around the hotel, you'd totally understand why I had to do what I did."

"Part of me tells me that you shouldn't have forced those kids to do the work you were supposed to do, Lo," Mrs. McCloud reasoned. "On the other hand, I saw those boys you described in the hotel lobby earlier, harassing guests and terrorizing the staff while their parents went about their business and ignored what they were doing, so part of me also tells me you put those kids in their place and showed them who the boss is. If I managed this hotel," she added with a grin, "I'd say you deserve hazard pay for dealing with kids like those."

"Thanks Mrs. McCloud, now I see where Fin gets her sense of mischief, among other things," Lo said, making Mrs. McCloud laugh.

"Well, thanks dear," Mrs. McCloud replied. "I always thought Fin had many aspects of herself passed down from me." At that point, Mrs. McCloud and Lo had their attention diverted when they heard Fin yelp after Reef accidentally dropped her on the sand while practicing a move.

"Ow!" Fin complained as she hit the sand. "I told you, wait until I'm ready!" she chastized Reef.

"It's not my fault you're slow," Reef said, trying to excuse his bungling the move.

"I am _not_ slow!" Fin countered.

"I think I'd better go deal with this," Lo said to Mrs. McCloud before she walked over to the arguing Fin and Reef. "Hey, I did not slave over twelve dirty rooms all morning so that you two could spend it bickering," the rich girl said to Fin and Reef to stop the argument. "Please tell me you learned a few lifts."

"Well, _duh!_" Fin quipped. Turning to Reef, she said, "C'mon, let's show her number seven." Within moments, while Lo and Mrs. McCloud watched from the shore, Fin and Reef were out on the water on Reef's board, preparing to do their move, when two newcomers to the beach, a boy and a girl about the same ages as Reef and Fin, arrived to check out Fin and Reef's practice session. The boy was tall and scruffy-looking with a lean muscular build and wore yellow boardshorts, while the girl had long bleached-blonde hair, a very deep tan, a Pisces zodiac tattoo on her upper left arm and wore eyeshadow, lipstick and a bikini all in a matching shade of pink.

Back on the water, Reef lifted Fin up to prepare for their move when Fin accidentally dug the heel of her left foot into Reef's groin, causing him to wince in visible pain and then causing both to fall off the board into the water. Watching the wipeout from shore with Mrs. McCloud, Lo commented "Oh, that wasn't good."

An unimpressed Fin then walked back onto the shore with Reef's board while Reef straggled onto the sand before falling to his knees in pain. "Seriously, you have no idea how much this hurts!" Reef complained.

"Oh, suck it up!" Fin retorted as Reef fell over onto his face. "Guys are such wimps," she added, turning to her grandmother and Lo.

The tall boy, standing with the bleach-blonde tanned girl in pink not far from Lo and Mrs. McCloud, then spoke up. "Heh-heh, look what the tide dragged in!" he said snidely, catching the others' attention. "Can't believe they actually hired you here."

"Guys," Lo addressed Fin and Reef, "this is your competition from Captain Ron's. That's Betty Sandstone," she added, pointing out the bleach-blonde, "or as some of us here call her, 'Beach Bimbo Barbie'..."

"Hey!" said Betty, taking offence as she put her hands on her hips.

"...and this is..." Lo continued, about to introduce the tall boy.

"Tuna McGillis," Reef said, recognizing him the moment he saw him.

"You two know each other?" Lo asked.

"Oh, we go _way_ back," Tuna said while glaring at Reef.

"Way back to when I kicked your butt in minigrom sectionals," Reef said with a cocky grin and his own glare at Tuna. "So, _you're_ our competition. Fin," he said, turning to Fin, "get ready for Surf du So Lame."

"Oh, really?" Tuna countered. "Is this lame?" Right then, he lifted Betty into the air and held her there with one arm while she stretched out her arms and extended her left leg back in a stunning move.

"Wow, the One-armed Falcon!" Fin said in amazement as everyone watched the move.

After putting Betty back on the ground, Tuna took a moment to rub it in on Reef as he and Betty walked off. "I'm gonna take you down like last year's Christmas tree - in June!" he gloated to Reef.

Not liking being shown up, Reef sought to save face. "Whatever!" he retorted. "We warm up with the One-armed Falcon."

"We _what?_" a stunned Fin said, while Lo added "We do?" simultaneously.

"Okay, we're not ready yet," Fin said. "That's an advanced move!"

"Are you sure you can do a move like that?" Mrs. McCloud joined in, skeptical of Reef's bravado. "It looks like it takes a lot of practice and skill."

"Of course I can," Reef boasted. "And don't be such a chicken," he said, turning to Fin. "How hard can it be?"

* * *

A minute later, Reef was hopping around on his left foot while clutching his right leg where Fin had kicked him hard in the shin, while an angry-looking Fin scowled at him as she rubbed her butt, where Reef dropped her on again after he lost his balance and grip on her while attempting the One-armed Falcon. "Fin, I said I was sorry," Reef said as he continued hopping around, trying to apologize. "I didn't mean to drop you like that, I swear that I had you!"

"Yeah, well that's the last time you drop me like that, you kook!" Fin snapped at Reef. "I'm done with you as a partner, and I'm out of here!" Fin then stormed off with her fists clenched while Lo and Mrs. McCloud watched her go.

"No, Fin, come on!" Reef said, calling after her. "I'll make it up to you by taking you out for an awesome dinner in town after the contest. Please?" Realizing the magnitude of what happened, Reef sighed resignedly as he stopped hopping on his foot. "I'm so not getting anywhere with her," he groaned.

"Kind of comes with the territory," Mrs. McCloud remarked. "Dropping a girl on her butt while doing a tandem surfing move is definitely not the way to impress her. Now what do you plan to do?"

Reef, Lo and Mrs. McCloud then heard derisive laughter as they turned to see Tuna and Betty walk past. "It takes two to tandem, bra!" Tuna said to Reef, adding insult to injury. "You can send that trophy over anytime. Later!" Tuna continued laughing snidely as he and Betty walked away.

"We're not disqualifying ourselves," Lo called back to Tuna. "We'll have a replacement by Saturday and they'll be awesome!" Turning to Reef and Mrs. McCloud, she then said, "Okay, we have to find another girl! I'd do it but I'm ineligible, plus Emma can barely surf on her own and Kelly only started surfing recently!"

"I'd do it too, but I don't surf competitively anymore," Mrs. McCloud added. "Retired from competitions back in 1987."

"For the love of wax, isn't there one single female at this hotel who can surf?" a desperate Reef asked.

"I'll do it!" a female voice called, catching Reef, Lo and Mrs. McCloud's attention in hopes of finding someone willing and able to surf with Reef in the contest - only to discover Rosie, the hotel's head housekeeper. "I used to be quite the board rider in my day."

"Uh... No thanks, Rosie," Reef said, politely turning down the stocky Rosie's offer as he did not want to risk injuring himself trying tandem moves with her, before the offended head maid walked away in response. "Well, it was a good dream," he lamented afterward. "I still can't believe I dropped her!"

"I was so close," Lo sighed, thinking about her opportunity to get back to the penthouse falling short.

Mrs. McCloud, on the other hand, had other ideas. "Lo, walk with me," she said, beckoning to the hotel heiress. "I think I can try to talk Fin out of quitting the competition."

* * *

**Next up - will Lo and Mrs. McCloud convince Fin to return to the Tandem Surfing Contest in spite of Reef's earlier butterfingered fumbling? Plus, the gang starts wondering who the staff house secret angel is after they find better food in their fridge.**

**After this chapter, it will probably take a while to get this fic done as, since it's now that time of the year, I'm planning to also start work on a Christmas-themed _Stoked_ story, so bear with me here. This story will still be done though, so no worries.**

**Comments, reviews...  
**


	3. Training Follies

**CHAPTER 3 - TRAINING FOLLIES  
**

**Well folks, here we are at last with the long-awaited third chapter as Fin is about to be talked by her grandmother and Lo into staying in the Staff Tandem Surfing Contest. Will they succeed in convincing Fin not to quit because of Reef? Read on and find out.**

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An angry Fin, still smarting from Reef's clumsy attempt to execute the One-armed Falcon with her moments earlier, marched past the surf hut at the hotel beach when Mrs. McCloud and Lo caught up to her. "Fin, wait!" Mrs. McCloud called to her granddaughter. "You shouldn't have to quit the contest over this."

"Grandma, don't try to talk me out of quitting," Fin replied. "You saw what happened when Reef tried to do that move. I've had it with him messing things up, that's why I'm dropping out of the contest."

"C'mon, Fin," Lo said. "You have to do it. We _have_ to win this contest!"

"Lo, what part of 'I'm dropping out of the contest' don't you understand?" Fin said.

"I'll get the kids to steal food for you from the buffet," Lo offered to Fin. "Whatever you want."

"I'm still not doing it," Fin said, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

"Fin, you're our only hope," Lo pleaded with Fin. "Please? Please? Pretty please?" Lo then got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around Fin's left thigh, imploring her to change her mind. "Please please please? PLEEEASE?"

"Uh-uh," Fin said, standing firm. "I'm still out."

"Fin, what's the big deal?" Lo asked as she got back to her feet. "We're doing it to get Surfer's Paradise back on top over Captain Ron's hotel."

"I'm not sharing deck space with that kook!" Fin stated. "What if I get hurt if he fumbles a big move while we're out there?"

"That's what all your practice time's for," Mrs. McCloud joined in. "You won't win if you and Reef don't practice."

"My point exactly," Fin countered. "It's _Reef!_"

"It's just one little contest," Lo said. "Think about it. Do you _want_ to see Reef attempt to lift Rosie out on the water? Fin, you and Reef have a real chance here to beat Captain Ron and get the hotel back to number one." Lo then put her trademark twinkle in her eyes and clasped her hands together as she continued to appeal to Fin. "Come on, take one for the team - for _me_."

"But it's REEF!" Fin said adamantly.

Lo still had an ace up her sleeve she intended to play. "Okay, get me back in the penthouse," she told Fin, "and I'll let you and Reef come up and use my dad's 72-inch TV anytime you want. Deal?"

"With popcorn, pizza and pop?" Fin said.

"You got it!" Lo responded.

"Okay, fine," Fin said grudgingly. "I'll do it."

"_EEEEE!_" a jubilant Lo squealed happily, glad that a deal had been reached, then she hugged Fin. "Thank you Fin, you're the best! We are going to kick some Captain Ron BUTT! Now to give Reef the good news."

After Lo went off to tell Reef about Fin's return, Fin said to her grandmother, "I just hope it's worth it. I _really_ hope so."

"Well, the widescreen TV and the treats were a good incentive," Mrs. McCloud said. "But now you're going to have to deliver on your promise to Lo, Fin. You and Reef will have to trust each other when you practice because trust is the most important thing you'll need when you two perform out there on Saturday."

"Yeah, trust," Fin said, envisioning in her mind what she and Reef would have to practice in preparation for the competition. "Can I really trust in Reef and expect that I won't get hurt if he slips up while we practice, though?"

"Don't worry, dear," Mrs. McCloud reassured Fin. "There won't be much chance of slip-ups if you have the best coaching you can get."

"Really?" Fin said, looking hopeful. "So you'd be willing to coach me and Reef?"

"You know I will, honey," Mrs. McCloud said with a smile. "I'll have you and Reef working in tandem like a well-oiled machine in time for the contest."

"Thanks, Grandma," a smiling Fin said, then she hugged Mrs. McCloud in gratitude for getting her grandmother's help.

* * *

Later on at the beach, Fin and Reef were doing knee-bends during their practice session while Mrs. McCloud coached them. "Okay, we've got five days to train and we're not going home without the trophy," Mrs. McCloud said to her team. "Now Fin, the mistake Reef made when he dropped you on your butt was going for the big moves first, so we're not going to do that. We're going to work our way _up_ to the Level Nine lifts."

"What about Level Ten?" Reef asked as he and Fin began doing leg extensions while balancing on their hands.

"Don't even say 'Level Ten'!" Mrs. McCloud admonished Reef. "Remember what happened to Fin earlier? Nobody does Level Ten lifts, not even the pros. To win, we just need to execute a perfect Level Nine - unless one of you wants to end up in the hospital."

"No, we're down with that," said Reef, who was now pumping iron with a barbell for strength.

"Level Nine's fine with me," Fin agreed while she pumped ten-pound weights to keep her arms toned.

After finishing up the exercises a few minutes later, Reef and Fin prepared to practice their lifts as Fin stood on a tree stump. "Okay, we're starting with some basic trust exercises," Mrs. McCloud said. "Now Fin, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't trust Reef _at all_, but if you can't trust him, this isn't going to work."

"Hey, I resent that remark!" Reef commented, but as he got distracted answering Mrs. McCloud, he put his arms down and forgot about Fin, who fell past him onto the sand.

"OWWW!" Fin yelped as she landed. "REEF!"

Mrs. McCloud sighed. "Okay, let's get training," she said to Reef and Fin. Over the next while, she began wondering if the coaching effort was worth it as she watched Reef bungle several lifts with Fin, shaking her head each time with each move Reef fouled up. Eventually, Reef successfully nailed a move when he lifted Fin straight-armed above his head with the palms of Fin's hands in contact with his own while she extended her legs in front of her, earning a thumbs-up from Mrs. McCloud as Reef and Fin both smiled at the success of the lift. Seconds later, however, Reef's arms gave out and he dropped Fin butt-first on top of his head, causing him to lose balance and both of them to fall to the sand.

For the next lift, Reef hoisted Fin above his head and balanced her with one hand on her butt while she extended her arms outward and her left leg in front of her while bending her right knee. When Fin looked down and saw Reef smiling, she scowled at him. "Stop looking like you're enjoying the view, kook!" Fin chided him.

"What?" Reef said in his own defence. "It was a successful lift and I'm trying to keep you balanced."

Fin rolled her eyes in response. "Fine, whatever," she grumbled. Reef then looked over and winked conspiratorily at Mrs. McCloud, who laughed as she watched him turn his attention back to Fin. Next, Reef had Fin standing on his legs just above his knees as he balanced her while their hands were locked together when Reef got a close-up look at Fin's butt during the move and grinned. Fin turned and caught Reef looking again, then snapped at him, "REEF! Stop looking at my butt and concentrate, you squid!" Snapped out of his trance, Reef lost his balance and his grip on Fin and they both fell down again, making Mrs. McCloud shake her head in exasperation.

For the next move, Reef had Fin on his shoulders while he balanced on his left leg on his board on dry land, then they went out to try the same move on the water while surfing a wave. Reef was unable to keep his balance and both he and Fin fell off the board into the water. Several other lift attempts on the waves all ended in the same manner, with Reef and Fin wiping out. Eventually, when Lo arrived to join Mrs. McCloud in watching the practice, Reef was successful in lifting Fin up in the same one-arm balance lift from earlier with Fin's butt on his hand as she extended her arms and left leg, and Mrs. McCloud and Lo cheered from the shore. Fin and Reef realized that they had succeeded with the lift as they looked at each other and smiled.

* * *

Back at the staff house later on, Reef, Fin, Broseph, Lo, Emma and Johnny were gathered around the dinner table for their roast beef, mashed potatoes and vegetables dinner when Lo decided to ask a request of Emma and Johnny. "Emma, Johnny, I need you to do a recon mission in town," Lo said.

"Okay, what're we reconning?" Emma asked in response before she popped a piece of broccoli into her mouth.

"Captain Ron's team is practicing at the pier," Lo reported. "We need to know what we're up against."

"We're on it," Johnny agreed after swallowing a bite of roast beef.

"Sweet, thanks," Lo said after taking a bite from a carrot stick. "And don't get caught."

"_Hmm_, so how do we film them without looking like we're filming them?" Emma wondered.

"We could pretend to be on a romantic date at the beach," Johnny suggested. "You can surf close to Tuna and Betty, and it'll look like I'm filming you instead of them."

"Oh, good idea!" Emma said enthusiastically. "I'll get my bikini and we'll do it tomorrow before our shifts."

"Okay, honey," Johnny responded, catching Emma's attention as she looked up at him from her dinner. "Just practicing," he added, covering his tracks. "To, you know, pretend."

Emma then chuckled. "Oh, right - _sweetie_," she said, catching Johnny's idea and then giggling.

_Wow, she called me "sweetie"!_ Johnny, who still had his unrequited crush on Emma, thought to himself gleefully.

After swallowing a bite of mashed potatoes with gravy, Broseph decided to speak up about the dinner. "You know, this is the first time in like a week that we've actually had decent food to eat here, dudes," he commented.

"Yeah," Reef agreed. "I went to the fridge earlier expecting to find the same pig slop Bummer's been leaving for us, but I checked the pot in the fridge as usual and it was empty this time. Then I looked above the pot to the two paper bags and I looked in them, and that's when I found the roast beef, the potatoes, the broccoli and carrots, the gravy and the ranch dip in them."

"You don't suppose Bummer had a change of heart about the staff meals, do you?" Johnny said.

"Bummer have a change of heart?" Fin said incredulously, then began laughing. "Don't make me laugh. Bummer's been so cheap toward the staff lately, if he could find a way to pay even less for our meals, he would. That's why I'm surprised about the roast beef dinner that was brought here today."

"So if Bummer didn't bring our dinner here, then who did?" Reef said.

"I don't know," Emma said, "but I have a feeling we've got a secret angel somewhere, looking out for us. How else would we be getting better food than we have in the past week?"

"Well, whoever this secret angel is, I'd sure like to thank him or her once I meet them," Fin said. "This dinner's delish, way better than that gruel Bummer brings here."

"Yeah, so would I," Lo said before eating a mouthful of broccoli. _Well, so far, so good_, she then thought to herself regarding the dinner. _Everyone's enjoying the dinner and no one's the wiser for who brought it. Now I have to decide what to get for the gang for dinner tomorrow night..._

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**Whoa, naughty, naughty there, Reef! (LOL) You better keep your mind more on practicing your lifts and less on looking at Fin so much if you expect to win the Tandem Surfing Contest, dude. :D  
**

**Coming up, Fin and Reef continue their training from Mrs. McCloud, and Emma and Johnny go spying on Tuna and Betty during the Captain Ron team's training session...but will Johnny end up embarrassing himself to his friends with his crush on Emma? Plus, can Lo manage to keep her identity as the staff house secret angel under wraps as she continues switching Bummer's garbage...er, dinner deliveries with the good food she's getting for the gang?  
**


	4. A Hint of Espionage

**CHAPTER 4 - A HINT OF ESPIONAGE**

**Here's what happens as Emma and Johnny, with Broseph tagging along, go on their recon mission to Sunset Beach to check out Team Captain Ron's practice sessions, while Broseph gets a surprise when he sees someone familiar. Meanwhile, will Lo get a surprise of her own while she gets her latest food delivery?**

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The next morning, while no one else was at the staff house, Lo picked up and paid for another dinner delivery from the deli in Sunset Beach she had ordered the roast beef dinner from the day before. This time when she took the dinner inside to the fridge, she took out a big container of lasagna, slices of garlic bread and a container with Greek salad from the paper bag the delivery came in, placed them in the fridge, then hauled the pot with the "dinner" Bummer had brought over earlier upstairs to the bathroom and flushed the slop inside down the toilet again. She then took the empty pot back downstairs and put it back in the fridge before she left the staff house to head over to the hotel beach, where she knew Fin and Reef were busy practicing for the Tandem Surfing Contest while Fin's grandmother coached them from the shore.

When Lo arrived at the beach, she watched as Fin and Reef returned to the shore after another successful practice run, with Fin seated on top of Reef's shoulders. "Guys, that was awesome!" Mrs. McCloud praised Fin and Reef for their improved performance out on the waves. "It's only been a day since I began coaching you and you've already made big improvements with your routines. I can't wait to see what you do out there on Saturday!"

"This calls for a celebration," Lo proclaimed. "So who wants to grab some Beaver Tails in town?"

"Reef's buying!" Fin piped up.

"What?" Reef said. "Why?"

"The dude always buys," Fin replied.

"That bites!" Reef complained. "Couldn't the girl buy for a change?"

"That's the way it is," Fin said with a grin. "You're the dude, so you're buying."

"She's got a point," Mrs. McCloud said while Lo giggled.

"Starting to hate being the dude!" Reef grumbled.

A moment later, Lo's iPhone began ringing and she answered it when she saw Broseph was calling. "Hey Broseph, how's everything going in town?" she asked.

"Everything's cool, chiquita," said Broseph, who had accompanied Emma and Johnny to Sunset Beach to spy on Tuna and Betty's practice session from the waterfront pier. "Emma's geting ready to hit the water and Johnny's gonna pretend to film her surfing while he films Tuna and Betty, like they planned out."

"Awesome!" Lo said. "Keep at it, Broseph. I'm coming to town with Reef, Fin and her grandma to get Beaver Tails, so we'll see you when we get there."

* * *

"Sure thing Lo, see you here," Broseph said to Lo before hanging up his phone. From another part of the pier, he then turned his attention to Emma and Johnny nearby as they caught sight of Tuna and Betty in the middle of their practice session.

"There they are," Emma said to Johnny, pointing out Captain Ron's lackeys out on the water. "Okay loverboy, roll camera!" she added, getting into her role of pretending to be Johnny's girlfriend for their covert mission before she took her surfboard and ran down the pier toward the water's edge.

"It's pretty big out there," a doubtful Johnny advised Emma after seeing the waves coming toward the shore. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Sure, honey!" Emma giggled as she mounted her board and paddled out toward the wave where Tuna and Betty were practicing some lifts.

Tuna was in the middle of doing a lift with Betty when he spotted Emma coming up beside him on the wave. Not knowing right away that Emma was connected with Fin and Reef, he asked her, "Hey, what's up?"

"With me?" Emma replied. "Oh, just catching some waves while my boyfriend films me," she said with a giggle, indicating Johnny over at the pier as she began waving and calling to him. "Hi, honey!"

"Yeah, nice ride!" Johnny called back as he waved to her while continuing filming.

Tuna then lifted Betty above his head for another move, impressing Emma as she watched. "Wow, that is so cool!" Emma commented a moment before she lost her balance and wiped out.

Broseph was also watching Emma as she surfed beside Tuna and Betty and cringed as he saw Emma wipe out and resurface, sputtering sea water, then he looked around elsewhere on the water when he spotted a familiar sight that caught his attention. Out surfing on the wave on her own board was the girl of Broseph's dreams, the beautiful bikini babe he first saw walking through the hotel lobby on his first day of bellhopping at Surfer's Paradise. She was the girl who bore a resemblance to Kelly, except she had dark brown hair instead of the dark red hair Kelly had, a pair of star tattoos on her left hip, and no beauty mark on her face like the small one Kelly had on her left cheek below her left eye. Broseph's imagination then kicked into gear as he started daydreaming about tandem surfing with the dream girl, doing the kinds of moves Tuna and Betty were practicing for the contest, before he paused to kiss the dream girl as they continued to ride the wave.

"Someday, I'll get to meet you," Broseph said with a sigh as he continued watching his dream girl surfing.

* * *

Later at the staff house again, Reef, Fin and the gang (minus Emma, who was upstairs showering) were enjoying their lasagna dinner at the dinner table as they were about to watch the spy video Johnny had filmed of Tuna and Betty's practice session near the Sunset Beach pier on the staff house's widescreen TV. "Do we have to watch this?" Reef complained while taking a bite of garlic bread.

"We have to see what we're up against," Fin told Reef after she swallowed a bite of lasagna. The gang then watched as Tuna lifted Betty up for a move, then saw Johnny's camera pan over to Emma and zoom in on her for a closeup, lingering on her and looking her body up and down.

"Dude, what's with all the shots of Emma?" Broseph wondered aloud.

"Yeah Johnny, where's the Captain Ron's team?" Lo also asked as the camera zoomed out slightly to get a full-body shot of Emma as she surfed.

Moments later, the camera footage on the TV cut abruptly to a closeup of Johnny's face. "I know. Uh, I feel the same way!" Johnny said to the camera, then he shed a tear as he brought the camera lens up to kiss it before the footage ended and cut to snow. A shocked Johnny, who had intended that part of the footage only for Emma to see, tried frantically to turn off the camera as Lo, Broseph and Fin gasped, then Reef began laughing derisively while Fin grinned, then the rest of the gang joined in the laughter before Johnny ran off in embarrassment.

"So funny, though!" a still-laughing Broseph commented.

Fin continued to giggle for a moment before she turned to Reef. "Okay Reef, I talked to Grandma earlier after practice and she decided that we're going for the Level Ten lift!" she told him.

"What?" said a stunned Reef. "No way, babe! You said those things were deadly!"

"It's the only way to beat them," Fin said, taking out her iPhone to show Reef something. "Here, I've worked out a combo," she explained, showing Reef a routine she had planned out for the competition.

"You want us to do THAT?" an incredulous Reef said, stunned at what he saw on the iPhone.

"This is no time to be scared, Reef!" Fin said.

"You're not the one whose kiwis could get smushed!" Reef retorted.

"We can do this if we work together!" Fin said. "Reef, you're strong, and I'm agile. If we trust each other and we listen to Grandma's coaching, we can do this. You want to beat Tuna, don't you?"

"Yes I do," Reef said. "Okay! It's ON!" he added, slapping a high-five with Fin. "Just, uh, be careful of my kiwis, okay?" he then said sheepishly to Fin, who giggled again.

* * *

Two days later, on the Friday afternoon before the contest, Fin and Reef returned to shore at the hotel beach after another practice session. "You guys did it!" an elated Mrs. McCloud said, pleased at the results her coaching of Fin and Reef were producing.

"Wait, what if we can't do it under pressure?" Reef, having a small doubt about his performance, wondered.

"We stuck it once, we can stick it again!" Mrs. McCloud said before she, Fin and Reef bumped fists together in solidarity and cheered.

"I'm gonna go tell Lo," Fin then said as she got off Reef's board to head back toward the staff house to shower and change before she went to look for Lo. "Apparently she's doing an awesome job cleaning rooms. Who knew?" On her way there, she met up with Emma, who was on break from waitressing at the Pirate Ship. "So, how goes work in the trenches?" Fin asked Emma.

"Same ol', same ol'," Emma answered. "At least since Kelly doesn't give me a hard time anymore, it's been a bit more enjoyable working the DR, especially since I found out she banned that rotten Marvin family from returning to eat there," she added with a giggle. "I figure, let whoever's handling Room Service deal with them when they place orders from there."

"You got that right, sister," Fin said with a laugh as she and Emma climbed up the front porch steps and entered the staff house, where they were greeted by a surprise. In front of the open fridge, Lo was placing containers of food inside while the slop pot was on the floor, awaiting her bringing it upstairs to the bathroom to flush its pseudo-edible contents down the toilet. When Lo went to pick up the pot, she gasped with surprise as she saw Fin and Emma there.

"Ohmigosh, you guys scared me!" Lo said. "I thought for a second you were Bummer and I was afraid he'd rank me out for dumping out the slop he's been bringing us for dinner!"

"So, that was you?" Emma said, looking pleasantly surprised herself. "_You're_ the secret angel who's been bringing all that yummy food here to replace the garbage Bummer's been passing off on us as 'food' the last few days?"

"Guilty as charged," Lo said with a sheepish grin.

"So that explains the roast beef dinner we had Tuesday night," Fin said, "and the lasagna on Wednesday, and the fried chicken last night. That was all you!"

"Yep," Lo said with a nod. "I did it for all of us because we were getting sick of eating that sludge day in, day out. Can you promise to keep this between us, though? I don't want the guys to find out that I've been getting good food delivered here and I _especially_ don't want word of it getting back to Bummer."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with us," Fin reassured Lo. "And now that we know you're the secret angel, we know who to thank for all that good stuff."

Pleased that the girls enjoyed her food deliveries and relieved that they would keep her secret of being the staff house secret angel, Lo smiled as she walked over and joined Fin and Emma in a group hug. "Thanks guys, I'm happy you appreciate what I've done," Lo said.

"You're welcome," Emma said. "So, if I could ask, what did you have delivered for tonight?"

"I got Chinese takeout from the Jade Pagoda," Lo said. "There's chicken chow mein, vegetable chop suey, mushroom fried rice, deep fried prawns, sweet and sour chicken, ginger beef and spring rolls all in there."

"_Mmm_, sounds delicious," Fin said. "But how're you paying for all this when your dad cut you off from your credit cards?"

"Remember the 'mad money' I used to buy the widescreen TV and satellite receivers for the staff house?" Lo said. "I had enough left over afterward to keep in case of an emergency, and the 'dinner' Bummer's been bringing here lately definitely counts as an emergency."

"Oh, I hear that!" Fin remarked as all three girls then laughed.

* * *

**Up next, it's go time as Fin and Reef take on Captain Ron's team of Tuna and Betty as bragging rights are on the line in the Staff Tandem Surfing Contest - but will some attempted chicanery by Captain Ron's minions spell trouble for the surfer babe and the kook?**


	5. The Showdown

**CHAPTER 5 - THE SHOWDOWN**

**Fin and Reef enter this chapter about to face off in the Tandem Surfing Contest against Tuna and Betty, who are about to prove that there's nothing they won't stoop to to get the win. Before the contest begins though, Mrs. McCloud sets out to show why I titled this fanfic "Grandma's Got Stoke!".  
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On Saturday morning, Fin and Reef got a call from Mrs. McCloud to come up to her hotel room for last-minute preparation before the Tandem Surfing Contest. When the twosome arrived and knocked at the door, Mrs. McCloud answered and let them in. "Fin, Reef, come on in," she said as Fin and Reef entered the room. "This is it, kids. Feeling good?"

"Feelin' good, feelin' loose!" Reef proclaimed proudly while taking a stretch.

"Good, as long as your brain's not feeling loose too," Fin quipped at Reef.

"I'm feelin' so good and I'm so confident we got this contest in the bag, even your sarcasm can't bring me down, babe," Reef retorted.

"There is such a thing as being _too_ confident, Reef," Mrs. McCloud pointed out. "If you don't want your opponents to take advantage of your overconfidence and beat you, you should dial down the confidence level a little." A second later, a knock came at the room door and Mrs. McCloud went to answer it, letting Lo inside. "Good morning Lo, do you have what we need?" Mrs. McCloud greeted the rich girl as she came in toting a shopping bag.

"Sure do," Lo replied. "Fin, Reef, I got your uniforms," she said as she pulled out the team uniforms for the contest, boardshorts for Reef and a one-piece tank swimsuit for Fin, both in the Surfer's Paradise colors of purple with yellow diamond shapes.

"Hey, not bad," Fin said as she took the swimsuit. "Would've liked it in colors that don't remind me of work, though."

"I know, but you have to appear as a team," Lo stated. Turning back to the shopping bag, she then pulled out another item. "Here you go, Mrs. McCloud," she said as she gave Fin's grandmother a wetsuit with short sleeves and legs, colored yellow, orange and pink. "Hope this is what you wanted."

"This looks perfect," Mrs. McCloud said when she took the wetsuit and looked it over. "This'll look great when I do my surfing exhibition before the contest."

After Mrs. McCloud, Fin and Reef each got changed into their respective outfits, they and Lo, then joined by Broseph and Emma in the lobby, started on their way to the hotel beach for the contest when Bummer came along and blocked their path. "There had better be a really good explanation for why you're not all at work."

"Hold on, since when did we start working on weekends?" Fin asked. "That's our time off!"

"Not anymore," Bummer said. "Starting now, you start working weekends too! My orders!"

"Look, me and Fin have to compete and win in the Tandem Surfing Contest down at the beach," Reef explained.

"Uh, let me think about that," Bummer said, then paused a moment. "Hmm...no!"

"If we win," Lo then told Bummer, "you'll be my dad's hero."

"Think of it as career advancement," Emma joined in.

"And would you really deny us the chance to get Surfer's Paradise back to number one over Captain Ron?" Lo added. "What would my dad say to that if he found out?"

Bummer looked displeased, but he knew he had no counter for Lo and Emma's arguments. "Fine!" he said. "But come back as winners, or don't come back at all! Got it?"

After Bummer walked away, Fin let out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," she said to Reef. "Bummer almost killed the whole thing for us."

"It's cool, babe," Reef reassured Fin. "We're gonna rock this!"

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Down at the hotel beach, a crowd had gathered around the announcers' tent, where Johnny served as the announcer while the Kahuna sat beside him as a judge, for the Tandem Surfing Contest as the opposing teams stood by. "Welcome to the annual Staff Tandem Surfing Competition between Captain Ron's and Surfer's Paradise Resort!" Johnny announced over the public address system as the Captain Ron team of Tuna and Betty and the Surfer's Paradise tandem of Reef and Fin acknowledged the cheering crowd.

"Before the contest begins, we have a special surfing exhibition coming up," Johnny continued. "Our guest surfer is a five-time World Women's Surfing Champion who captured the title in 1966, 1967, 1975, 1978 and 1980, and she's also a multiple-time winner of the Canadian and East Coast championships and the winner of the very first Battle of the Betties back in 1962. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for our guest surfer, Amanda McCloud!"

As the crowd applauded, Mrs. McCloud acknowledged their cheers with a wave before she began paddling out on her board to the oncoming wave, then getting up and riding the board along the wave wall and doing a double cutback, then going up the wave and doing an aerial 360 before landing back on the wave. She then cut back again toward another forming wave, rode through the forming tube and then finished out with an amazing rodeo flip before riding back to the shore and the cheering crowd, who were amazed by what a surfer her age was able to do on the waves.

"Wow, Grandma, that was incredible!" Fin said as she sprinted over to meet Mrs. McCloud on the shore. "I've never seen you do a rodeo flip before, but you nailed it like you were still in competition!"

"I know," Mrs. McCloud admitted. "It even surprised me! It felt almost like I turned back time for a moment, like it was 1975 all over again."

"Alright, let's hear it again for Amanda McCloud, everyone!" Johnny said over the microphone to more crowd applause directed at Mrs. McCloud, who waved back at the crowd before taking a seat with the Surfer's Paradise contingent. "Now, for the main event. The contest consists of three rounds with a total score out of thirty!"

"Hey, Ridgemount!" Captain Ron called over to the Surfer's Paradise owner. "What kind of quack operation you runnin' here, setting up a geriatric surfing exhibition before the contest?"

"One that's gonna stomp you into the ground, Captain Ron!" Mr. Ridgemount growled back at his rival.

Mrs. McCloud, who heard Captain Ron's snide comment about her age earlier, stood up and walked over to him. "Age is nothing but a number, Captain Tubby!" she commented to him in earshot of everyone close by. "I'm still in as good a shape now as I was thirty years ago, which is more than I think you can say for yourself." The gathered crowd had a laugh at the expense of Captain Ron, who glared at Mrs. McCloud as she walked away laughing.

"Way to show him, Grandma," Fin said to Mrs. McCloud.

"It wasn't hard to put him in his place," Mrs. McCloud said. "Looking at him, I don't think he's ever been on a surfboard in his life."

"Or seen an all-you-can-eat buffet he didn't like," Fin quipped before she was distracted by the sound of popping gum nearby. "Reef! Do you have to do that?" she snapped as she turned and saw Reef with bubble gum all over his lower face.

"Sorry Fin, it helps me chill out," Reef said.

* * *

"Alright, surf's up!" Kahuna called as the two teams prepared to enter the water.

"Hope you brought your silver polish, bro!" Reef taunted Tuna, who simply glared back at the cocky surfer.

"Surfers ready?" Johnny called over the microphone. "Three..two..one!" Johnny then sounded an air horn to signal the start of the contest as Fin and Reef paddled out on their board, as did Tuna and Betty on theirs. For the first round, Tuna lifted Betty into the air as she extended her arms out and her left leg back behind her while Tuna supported her, earning a score of 8 from Kahuna. Reef then took his turn as he did the one-armed lift with his hand on Fin's butt for balance as she extended her arms out and her left leg in front of her while bending her right knee, getting a 9 from Kahuna and drawing the crowd's cheers, along with those of Mr. Ridgemount, Mrs. McCloud, Lo, Emma and Broseph, while Fin and Reef looked at each other and smiled. Captain Ron, on the other hand, was not impressed.

Round Two began with Tuna doing a one-armed lift with Betty balancing her left arm on his with the palms of their hands in contact while Betty extended her right arm and legs to get a 9, pleasing Captain Ron but frustrating Mr. Ridgemount. Next up, Reef lifted Fin in the air with one hand on her upper back and the other on her butt for support while Fin arched her back, bent her left knee and extended her other limbs downward, but Reef lost his balance and caused him and Fin to wipe out, getting only a 7 and putting them one point behind Tuna and Betty. Captain Ron celebrated with his hotel's mascot, Captain Clam, while Mr. Ridgemount buried his hands in his face in frustration.

For the third round, Tuna and Betty successfully did the same move Reef and Fin failed to do in Round Two, earning them an 8 from Kahuna. Mr. Ridgemount then called for a time out as Fin and Reef ran over to the Surfer's Paradise camp, leaving their board sticking up in the sand. "Trailing by nine points, Surfer's Paradise has just called a time out!" Johnny announced while Tuna and Betty, who both had an evil plan in mind, glanced at each other.

"A One-leg Shoulder Stand might give us a tie," Reef suggested to Fin.

"But we need to _win_," Lo said. "You have to do a Level Ten lift!"

"Hey, Ridgemount!" Captain Ron then called with a laugh. "What's your team doing there, huh? Makin' dinner plans?"

"I don't care what the two of you have to do," Mr. Ridgemount said to Reef and Fin. "JUST WIN THIS CONTEST!"

"Okay, Level Ten!" Reef declared. "Bring it on!" Turning to Fin, he then asked, "You got this?"

"Hey, you've done good so far," Fin said. "I trust you to get us the win. Now let's go for it!" she added enthusiastically.

During the time-out by Team Surfer's Paradise, Tuna and Betty set out to try to keep the lead and get the win by taking an unfair advantage as Tuna used a blowtorch to melt all the surf wax off of Reef's board while Betty held the board in place. Once they got done with their dirty work, Tuna and Betty ran off just before Fin and Reef went back to get the board and head out on the water. However, Mrs. McCloud had seen Tuna and Betty attempting to cheat to get an unfair win, and she ran out to the edge of the water to try to warn Fin and Reef about their board. "Fin, Reef, be careful with your board!" Mrs. McCloud began to call to them. "I just saw..."

Before Mrs. McCloud could finish, she was cut off as Tuna clamped his hand over her mouth while he and Betty grabbed her. "Got somethin' to say now, granny?" Tuna said as Mrs. McCloud struggled to get free from the grasp of Captain Ron's lackeys, but his attention was caught when a female voice called "HEY!" at him. Tuna and Betty then turned around with Mrs. McCloud, to find Lo (who had yelled at Tuna to get his attention), Broseph, Emma and Johnny staring Tuna and Betty down with angry scowls.

"Let her go Tuna, or you two are gonna have a _big_ problem," Broseph told the Captain Ron team, warning them to let Mrs. McCloud go. Right then, Mrs. McCloud thrust the heel of her right foot into Tuna's left foot and did the same with her left foot on Betty's right foot, causing both to yelp in pain as she then jerked her arms loose from their grips while each of them hopped around holding their aching feet.

"Step off, junior!" Mrs. McCloud snapped at Tuna, then said "You too, bimbo!" to Betty before she walked toward the safety of Lo and her friends.

"We were worried Tuna and Betty might have tried to hurt you, Mrs. McCloud," a concerned Lo said as the gang escorted Fin's grandmother back to the announcers' tent. "Are you okay?"

"It's okay, dear," Mrs. McCloud reassured Lo with a grin. "No damage done, except maybe to those two kids' egos," she stated as she pointed her thumb back toward Tuna and Betty.

* * *

"After a time out, Surfer's Paradise's backs are against the wall," Johnny announced as Reef and Fin paddled out on the water for their last turn. "Reef and Fin have to ride one more time like there's no tomorrow!"

"Hey, do you find this board kind of slippery?" Reef asked Fin as he paused from paddling, noticing something was amiss.

"Yeah, I thought you waxed it!" Fin said.

"I did, twice!" Reef responded.

"Let's turn to Reef and Fin, who are waiting for their set," Johnny announced. "Getting ready to make the history books for Surfer's Paradise!"

Back on the water, Fin became concerned about what she and Reef were going to do on their board. "Reef, there's no wax on this board!" she said adamantly.

"We can't go back in now, we'll be disqualified!" Reef said.

"I can't do a Level Ten on a board with no wax!" Fin said. "It's suicide!" As she spoke, Reef then blew another bubble with his bubble gum and popped it over his face again, which then gave Fin an idea. "Do you trust me, Reef?" she then said.

"Sure," Reef replied. "With what?"

"I have an idea," Fin said. "Take out your gum and put it on the board." Reef did as he was told and slathered the gum on, then stepped on the gum to get the traction he needed on the board.

"Yeah, that should do it!" Reef said as he got back up.

"There's a sweet set coming in and here they go!" Johnny announced as he and Kahuna watched Fin and Reef take their turn. "They're up, they're taking reverse formation, and they're going for the legendary foot-to-hand!" As Johnny called the action, Reef had Fin up in the air with her feet on his hands, striking awe into everyone present except for the Captain Ron contingent, who were expecting Reef and Fin to slip up thanks to the dirty trick Tuna and Betty pulled earlier. To everyone's surprise, Fin then lifted her right foot off of Reef's right hand while Reef raised his left foot off his board, and Fin then extended her free limbs outward while keeping her balance on Reef's left hand and Reef, thanks to the bubble gum, kept in place on his board.

"One handed?" an amazed Johnny exclaimed. "I've never SEEN this before!" As Kahuna flashed a 10 on his scorecard, Johnny then declared, "Reef and Fin have just claimed victory for Surfer's Paradise!" Balloons were then released in the air as the crowd cheered, though none as enthusiastically as Lo, Broseph, Emma and Mrs. McCloud. While Mr. Ridgemount also celebrated, Bummer, ever the brown-noser, ran over and hugged his boss, causing the repulsed hotel owner to cringe. Fin and Reef then ran back on shore and joined in the celebration, hugging each other, while a disappointed Tuna and Betty drew a disapproving glare from the vanquished Captain Ron.

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**The next chapter wraps things up as Fin and Reef get their laurels for winning the Tandem Surfing Contest.**


	6. Lone Wolf No More

**CHAPTER 6 - LONE WOLF NO MORE  
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**Things wrap up in this chapter with the aftermath of Fin and Reef's win over Tuna and Betty in the Tandem Surfing Competition. This chapter's title is derived from a part of Reef's acceptance speech.**

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Following their win for Surfer's Paradise in the Staff Tandem Surfing Contest, Fin and Reef were standing at the winners' podium, awaiting the trophy presentation. "I give you the winners, Surfer's Paradise!" Kahuna announced as he handed the championship trophy over to Fin and Reef, who hoisted the trophy in the air together as the crowd applauded.

"I just wanna say that this surfer babe has taught a lone wolf that it's more fun to surf in a pack," a jubilant and emotional Reef, referring to Fin, said in his acceptance speech. "And this is my pack!" he added, indicating Lo, Emma and Broseph as they stood and cheered near the podium.

"And I wanna thank someone else for our win in this competition," Fin then said. "My grandmother and our team's surfing coach, Amanda McCloud!" Mrs. McCloud then stepped forward to acknowledge the cheering crowd as Fin got down from the podium and walked over to her. "Without her help, Team Surfer's Paradise wouldn't have taken the win in this contest, so this victory is dedicated to her," Fin also said before she and her grandmother hugged while the applause continued.

"Congratulations, honey," Mrs. McCloud said to Fin as they continued hugging. "You and Reef earned that win. Oh, by the way," she added before she began whispering something in her granddaughter's ear, causing Fin to glance over toward Tuna and Betty with an angry look.

"Can you excuse me a minute, Grandma?" Fin said as she then sprinted over to where Tuna and Betty had finished packing up their gear and were about to leave. "Hey Tuna, wait up a minute!" she called.

Tuna looked over to see Fin sprinting to him. "What, you came over to rub in your win?" he remarked snidely.

"No, not at all," Fin said with a grin. "I just came to thank you and Betty for keeping us on our toes and making it a close contest. There's something else I wanted to say too."

Surprised by Fin's show of sportsmanship in spite of his and Betty's attempt to take the contest by cheating, Tuna let down his guard. "Uh, okay, you're welcome," he replied hesitantly. "What else did you want to say?"

Right then, the smile on Fin's face vanished, replaced by an angry scowl as she grabbed Tuna's right ear and pulled him down to her level. "My grandma told me what you and Betty tried to do to her when she saw you try to cheat to win the competition and she went to warn me and Reef," she snapped at a stunned Tuna. "Put your hands on her like that again and you'll both live to REGRET IT!" Fin then let go of Tuna's ear and walked away, looking back to glare at him and Betty as the crowd cheered Fin for standing up to the dastardly duo.

"Whoa, harshness!" Tuna remarked as he looked back at Fin while he rubbed his ear.

Meanwhile as Fin returned to the Surfer's Paradise camp, an overjoyed Lo said to her father as she went to hug him, "We did it, Daddy! We won!"

"Thanks to you, Lauren," a pleased Mr. Ridgemount replied, "you really pulled it off! And you even took over a housekeeping job in addition to your babysitting duties to get it done!" The Ridgemount patriarch then produced Lo's key to the family penthouse to present to his daughter. "I think you're ready to come back up to the penthouse!" he announced as a happy Lo held out her hands to receive the key.

Just before Lo could get the key though, Rosie walked up to the Ridgemounts. "Excuse me sir, I have Child Services on the line," Rosie said to Mr. Ridgemount. "Something about Lo running a child labor camp at the hotel." Mr. Ridgemount, who did not know about Lo making the Marvin boys, Erica and Brianna clean guest rooms to punish them for the purse dog surfboard incident, then re-palmed the penthouse key and put it back in his pocket, disappointing Lo.

_Those little finks ratted me out!_ Lo thought to herself about the four brats when she realized they had squealed on her to get back at her for punishing them for their bad behavior and animal cruelty. _I'll fix their wagons when I explain to Daddy about what they did._

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Later that night, Mrs. McCloud and the gang celebrated Reef and Fin's victory in the Tandem Surfing Contest by going out for dinner in town at the Jade Pagoda, where the group of seven sat at a large horseshoe-shaped booth while enjoying dinner from the all-you-can-eat buffet. While everyone was eating, Emma noticed that Lo was not looking very happy. "Lo, what's wrong?" Emma asked. "You've hardly touched your plate since you got it."

"She's been feeling a bit down since she found out she wasn't getting the key to the penthouse back," Fin explained, "and a bit mad because those four rugrats she was looking after were responsible for her not getting it back."

"The Tandem Surfing Contest was my opportunity to get back in," Lo said, "and I had to teach those brats a lesson for being cruel to the girls' mother's dog. At least after I explained everything to Daddy, he didn't punish me for what happened, but he did say he was disappointed in me for the approach I took in dealing with those little monsters. I may not be in trouble, but it doesn't make me feel any better."

"That's okay, Lo," Emma reassured her. "There'll be another time and another opportunity to try and get back in the penthouse. The summer's still young." While moving her foot under the table, Emma knocked it against what felt like a paper bag on the floor. "Reef, is that your bag under here?" she said.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me," Reef said as he grabbed the bag off the floor and reached inside. "I got a couple of surprises here. First, Mrs. McCloud," he said as he offered Fin's grandmother a bouquet of flowers. "Thanks for being our coach."

"Oh, you're very welcome, Reef," a pleased Mrs. McCloud said as she checked out the bouquet. "And thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful."

"Now for you, pain in my butt," Reef then said to Fin, handing her a bouquet of her own. "Thanks for being my tandem surfing partner."

"No, no, no," Fin responded, remembering the day her grandmother arrived when Reef left the bouquet of flowers with the poison ivy in it on her bed in the girls' room. "I am _not_ taking those. I almost came down with a rash thanks to your last attempt to be nice. And Grandma," she said, turning to Mrs. McCloud, "are you sure you want to take that other bouquet Reef gave you?"

"It's okay," Reef told Fin. "This time, I bought both bouquets at the florist on Main Street. She assured me that her shop never uses poison ivy in its bouquets. Take a look if you want."

"Okay, I believe you," Fin said, taking Reef's word after examining her bouquet and then taking it. "You're lucky you're kinda cute, you know."

"Ha!" Reef said, grinning. "I _knew_ you thought I was cute!"

"I said _kind of!_" Fin retorted, which served only to keep the grin on Reef's face.

"Well, I think this calls for a toast," Mrs. McCloud then declared as she picked up the glass of 7-Up she had ordered with her dinner. "To Fin and Reef and their success in the Tandem Surfing Contest."

"I'd like to add on to that toast," Fin joined in, raising her glass of Pepsi. "To Grandma, for helping me and Reef get Surfer's Paradise back on top over Captain Ron, and for that awesome surfing demo before the contest." Fin, Mrs. McCloud, Reef, Broseph, Lo, Emma and Johnny then clinked their glasses together and drank from them to cap off the toast.

**THE END**

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**Reviews and comments, as always, are welcome.  
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